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Melanie Creamer is a news assistant, who's worked at the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram for nearly 16 years. She oversees various responsibilities from monitoring the news and business email addresses – to fetching old newspaper articles and photos from the archive. She’s the face behind the popular business “On the Move” column, which appears in Tuesdays and Thursdays newspapers. A compassionate and soft-spoken woman, Melanie is also the writer of the newspaper’s feature obituary. Many of her colleagues say she has one of the toughest jobs in the newsroom. She tells heart-breaking stories of love and loss. She listens as parents sob uncontrollably over the tragic death of their child. She writes touching stories about couples who have been married for 60 plus years, and then die within days or weeks from each other. Melanie was the recipient of the Maine Press Association’s Unsung Hero Award in 2015. A native of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, she graduated from Fitchburg State College in 2000 with a degree in professional writing. She lives in Scarborough with her fiancée and is a co-parent to two daughters.

Latest
  • Published
    June 21, 2011

    Feature Obituary: Ramon ‘Kelly’ Farrin, 64, fulfilled dream of being lobsterman

    GRAY — Ramon Farrin Jr., a well-known lobsterman who fished out of Yarmouth, died unexpectedly on Sunday. He was 64. Mr. Farrin, known by most people as “Kelly,” learned how to row a boat around the same time he learned to walk. As a boy, he went lobstering with his father off South Bristol, where […]

  • Published
    June 18, 2011

    Feature Obituary: William Donnell, 55, mechanic and outdoorsman

    YORK BEACH – William A. Donnell was an accomplished outdoorsman, who fished and hunted in the York area his entire life. His only vulnerability was that he couldn’t swim. Mr. Donnell, 55, left his home on Sonny’s Lane around 6:30 p.m. Wednesday to go fishing on York Pond. He usually fished till dusk, but he […]

  • Published
    June 17, 2011

    Feature Obituary: Kenneth E. Cole, 94, quirky, curious, collected obituaries

    SCARBOROUGH – Kenneth E. Cole would feel proud knowing he is today’s feature obituary. He collected obituaries from The Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram for the past 50 years or so. He searched for the names of old-timers he grew up with in Portland’s East Deering neighborhood. He looked for alumni from Portland High School […]

  • Published
    June 16, 2011

    Feature obituary: Dennis Daniello Sr., 61, dedicated to family and work

    GRAY – Dennis Daniello Sr. mastered the art of balancing his two jobs with being a family man. “He was the best,” said his wife, Joyce Daniello of Gray. “I couldn’t have asked for a better life. We had two kids and four beautiful grandchildren who were the love of his life. He was always […]

  • Published
    June 15, 2011

    Feature Obituary: Florencio Navarro Sr., 75, devoted U.S. serviceman and father

    Correction: This obituary was corrected at 3:03 p.m., June 20, 2011, to state that Florencio Navarro Sr. served  in Vietnam on a Coast Guard riverine patrol craft. SOUTH PORTLAND — Florencio Navarro Sr. rose from a humble beginning to achieve the life he always wanted – to be a husband and father, and to provide […]

  • Published
    June 14, 2011

    Feature Obituary: Norma Doody, 66, generous, funny and compassionate

    SOUTH PORTLAND — If you frequent Mr. Bagel in Mill Creek in South Portland, chances are you knew Norma Doody, a former employee who had an infectious laugh and loved to talk with the customers. Mrs. Doody, who died on Sunday at age 66, worked at Mr. Bagel for about seven years and was a […]

  • Published
    June 7, 2011

    Feature Obituary: Ian Julian, 31, ‘one in a billion’ friend

    WESTBROOK — Ian Julian’s family and friends struggled on Monday to understand how a man who had so much to offer and inspired so many people could have his life cut so short. “He was one in a billion,” said Will Otis, one of his best friends from Portland. “He was the person that everyone […]

  • Published
    June 5, 2011

    Facing disaster from a distance

    A Maine native and her husband regroup after a tornado hit their city as they traveled to Portland.

  • Published
    June 3, 2011

    Feature Obituary: Elisa DiBiase, 11, melted hearts, fought the odds with a smile

    PORTLAND – The family of Elisa DiBiase spoke with pride on Thursday at how a young girl with so many physical disabilities could touch so many lives in such a short time. Elisa DiBiase wasn’t expected to live past six months. She was born with Holoprosencephaly, a rare gene mutation that causes the frontal lobe […]

  • Published
    June 1, 2011

    Rescue leads to carbon-monoxide crusade

    Newfield Rescue workers save the lives of two women who had been poisoned by the gas.